OOC: Luceti Character App
Name: Omi Tsukiyono, codename Bombay (Real name: Mamoru Takatori)
Fandom: Weiß Kreuz (Knight Hunters is the American release title)
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Time Period: end of the first animated series (known as Kapitel)
Wing Color: gray
History: Omi's real name is Mamoru Takatori, and he is the illegitimate son of the wife of the main villain, Reiji Takatori. As if that weren't juicy enough, his real father is Reiji's brother, Shuuichi. Omi believes Reiji is his father at the point in canon I'm taking him from; Reiji, however, knew the truth for many years and despised Mamoru as a constant reminder of his wife's unfaithfulness. So when Mamoru was kidnapped at the age of 11, Reiji's revenge was to refuse to pay the ransom for his wife's beloved son. This act is ultimately the catalyst for the entire series, since it leads to Omi's mother committing suicide, which then drives Shuuichi into taking on the role of Persia to plot his brother's murder through Weiß. (Why he couldn't just hire a hit man instead of taking six years and ruining his then-nephew's life to achieve his goal is never answered).
In any case, filled with feelings of betrayal and terror as the kidnappers closed in to kill him, Mamoru squirmed past them and ran out of the room screaming and crying. Shuuichi, believing the boy to be Reiji's, took him in and began training him to be his personal killing dog. When the series opens, Omi has no memories of anything that happened to him before Weiß. He doesn't remember being kidnapped, who his family is, or even his real name. He does later, however, regain his memories of the kidnapping (episode 7) and his awareness that he is Mamoru Takatori, along with a few memories of his early childhood (episode 10).
There's a time gap of between three and four years that spans from his abduction at age 11 to his meeting the three others that will form his team. It is unclear at exactly what age Omi began training, but the final exercise of it was to kill his own dog, which Persia had deliberately given rabies (ref: Wish A Dream Collection II: A Four-Leaf Clover). My personal take is that Omi's training started relatively soon after Persia took him in, and that most of that time was spent learning necessary skills and gaining the experience he'd need to lead a team once he had one.
As for other significant events within the series Kapitel: a character named Schuldig throws Omi into an emotional upheaval by pointing out his hypocrisy-- thinking of himself as a good person even though he's just as much a killer as the monsters he hunts down. He falls in love with Ouka, a girl that turns out to be his cousin (but is believed to be his half-sister). Schuldig and Farfarello kill her, an act for which he has never forgiven them. After an identity crisis that Aya helps to resolve, he disowns his Takatori birth name (significant because this is the first time he actively chooses to dissociate himself with the family), personally murders one of his "brothers," and through Weiß is an accessory to the murder of his other "brother" and "father" Reiji. With Persia having died the same night as Reiji and Ouka already dead, Omi finds himself once again completely alone in terms of blood-related family after only a short time of knowing that he had it in Persia and Ouka.
The first half of the series revolves around exposing the exploits of the Takatori family and Omi's connection to them. In the second half of the series, Weiß reunite to try to stop a group calling themselves Eszett, who have an interest in the sister of another Weiß member, Aya. The final battle takes place in a building off the coast, last seen crumbling into the sea with all of Weiß in it. That's Omi's last memory before waking in-game.
Personality: Omi is the leader and longest-serving member of the third Weiß. Forced to grow up in the physical world far too soon, he frequently seems to possess the mental age of an 11-year-old. He's pleasant, uncertain, inquisitive, easily flustered, and expressive. Yet Omi simultaneously manages to possess several qualities that mark him as an adult, including independence, dedication, selflessness, diligence, and a keen sense of responsibility.
One can find this dualistic nature in nearly every aspect of Omi's character, which makes him a rather complicated paradox of a person. He seems amiable and friendly on the surface, but his core is very private. He feels the isolation of his lifestyle and craves meaningful relationships, yet his selfless nature and emotional traumas drive him to avoid intimacy (after all, it would only end in tragedy). His untreated PTSD causes mental breakdowns and anxiety while his inner strength of will compels him to cope and move forward. His sharp mind detects traps and patterns from the subtlest of clues though it remains blind to simple observations thanks to giant blocks of denial and psychological damage. He is as fragile as he is strong, as assertive as he is meek, and as mentally dependent as he is physically self-sufficient.
And of course, there is the most obvious juxtaposition of all in his ability to transform from a kind-hearted and bashful schoolboy to a calculating murderer with no mercy for his targets. The Omi that most people see is someone thoughtful, kind with his words, and always willing and ready to offer reassurance. When Omi dons the name Bombay, it becomes more apparent that underneath that he is ruthless, focused, and tenacious, refusing to accept failure under any circumstances. In the flower shop, Omi has wonderful people skills, naturally compassionate and emotionally attentive to others. On missions, it's an eye for traps and back-up plans for his back-up plans.
It is this darker side of his life to which Omi has dedicated himself completely, driven by idealism and dreams of an age that will be safe for innocent life and free of human scum. His ultimate goal is a day in which Weiß is no longer necessary. It's a goal he knows he won't live to see, but he's determined to push it forward as far as he can anyway.
There is a reason Omi is able to make this transformation, and it has nothing to do with a split personality. Regardless of whether he is in Bombay mode, all of his actions are the product of a ruthless mind driven by a kind heart, thus creating a pattern of behavior in which Omi does all the wrong things but for all the right reasons.
Omi has developed a very black-and-white view of the world-- and of ethics in general-- as a result of having only the organization of Weiß upon which to form that view. Unfortunately, he also has a critically flawed system for determining what's good or bad. Omi's method of determining the morality of his behavior is based solely on his intentions, which serves as a blanket justification to manipulate, lie, cheat, steal, spy, and kill, all without feeling sorry for any of it. However, because Omi lacks telepathy or any other method of knowing the intentions of others, he judges the people around him by the only thing he can see: their actions and the consequences they have. Ergo, if the actions of a person are bad, so too is the person.
Once he's gone through this assessment with a person, one can know with reasonable certainty which of those two elements-- the kind heart or the ruthless mind-- will be the dominant function. So long as you're good (and he'll assume on first meeting that you are), his kind heart can be seen with no difficulty, though he can easily justify immoral behavior towards you as long as it's "for the good." For the record, it doesn't matter who you are or how much he cares about you. He WILL deceive you if it's the means to a desirable end. Even his teammates are not safe from this behavior.
If you're bad, Omi undergoes a frightening internal shift: his kind heart stops acknowledging you as human, and at that point he loses all compassion for you. The ruthless mind has taken charge, and it says that for the sake of protecting the "good," you need to die. It is through this mental process that Omi is able to kill with ease-- and just as easily smile the next day at the flower shop-- all without ever considering himself a "murderer." Because in Omi's mind, he isn't killing people; he's killing monsters.
Thankfully, Omi's definition of "bad" is pretty strong, so he won't decide you're bad just for being flawed. Very few people make it into that category, but once you do, you're toast.
This dehumanization process is significant for explaining why it took twenty episodes for him to be able to acknowledge that Weiß was not a force of good, but of necessary evil, and that he himself is a murderer. However, the end effect of that realization was minimal. He remains completely unsympathetic to his targets and convinced that Weiß is still right in principle. He is a genuine psychotic.
In spite of that, the single most defining characteristic of Omi is his kind heart. It's the motivating factor behind everything he does. As atrocious as his actions may be sometimes, his intentions are always noble and well-meaning, and he would lay down his life for an innocent in a heartbeat.
To sum him up in a single paragraph, Omi is a study in dichotomy and contradiction. He's cheerful but somewhat withdrawn, intelligent but somewhat blind-sighted, mature but somewhat childlike, and kind-hearted but somewhat manipulative. His strong idealism and appreciation for life give him an aura of happiness on the surface while angst and depression plague his core. He's psychologically complex, but his attitudes are rather simple: protect the innocent, destroy the guilty, and whenever possible, bask in life's little tokens of joy. He's sweet, friendly, charming, sometimes clueless, and utterly merciless against a marked target.
Strengths:
Physical: Omi is nimble and quick with excellent stamina. Being an assassin, he's trained in combat and able to handle himself against most normal humans, though he favors avoiding close-range fighting if possible due to the disadvantages it presents in light of his small size. He also has excellent reflexes and agility, making it difficult to attain a hit on him. Though raw strength is not his forte, Omi has more than ample muscle to take care of himself and someone else of similar or smaller size. He's able to use a multitude of projectile-type weapons (canon examples include throwing knives, bow and arrow, crossbow, and poison darts) with flawless precision, so he has masterful aim. As a wielder of those weapons, Omi acts as a sniper, making his kills by hiding in the shadows and striking from a distance. He's got years of training and experience in doing just that and so he knows how to move around without being easily seen or heard. Someone with good instincts or who's trained in detecting such people could find him, but the average person should not.
Mental: Omi is Weiß's tech guy, responsible for any hacking or technological sabotage. He's an unofficial genius, clever and resourceful in his problem-solving, such as tying a rope to a crossbow arrow to shoot over an electrified fence and offer a means across. He's able to do the same with facts and words when talking, enabling him to manipulate and deceive people with strategic half-truths. He's a smooth liar, and on several missions takes on a disguise-- both the look and the act. He's become a casino waiter, a female(!) flight attendant, a careless and flirty clubber, the list goes on. Even his own appearance is a deception; one would never imagine the wide-eyed, innocent-sounding smiler in the flower shop to be a competent assassin. He's very good at taking on whatever role is required of him.
He often seems easily bossed around, talked over, and generally taken advantage of, but he does have an assertive side, and he will use it when it's important. He is also capable of great strength of will and determination. He's adaptable, resilient, able to press onward from upsetting or traumatic events. Life has cursed him from the moment he was conceived but he continues to exist and to fight for what he believes in. He may not have the healthiest coping tactics, but he can pick himself up and move forward.
Also, this is less a strength in its own right and more a product of other assets, but Omi has some very solid leadership skills.
Emotional: Emotionally speaking, Omi only has one point of strength and even it is a double-edged sword: he is endlessly kind-hearted and selfless. Helping and protecting other people is far more important to him than his own happiness; it's what he genuinely wants to do with his life, and it is the motivating factor in everything he does. It is perhaps a good thing that it is more important to him than his own happiness, for that is the price he has to pay for it.
Weaknesses:
Physical: Omi is a normal human with a small body. This means he's got enough muscle to perform his job, but he's far from Superman. No lifting 300-lb objects or punching people across the room for him. His small size and weight also leave him more susceptible to poisoning. I would expect this to also apply to other drugs and substances such as alcohol (hello lightweight). Additionally, while his agility and speed make him difficult to hit, once he is hit he takes the hit hard. That isn't to say he can't get back up, but that his physical resistance is low and the hit will show in how well he can move afterwards.
In spite of being a dangerous killer, Omi has this weird quirk that he'll just randomly lose his balance. Ironically, it never seems to happen when one would think him to be most vulnerable to it (like landing from an awkward jump), but when he's moving about normally. On one occasion he fell while doing nothing more active than holding a flowerpot. It's fairly rare, but it happens.
Mental: Omi may be a master at manipulation, but that doesn't keep him from being rather susceptible to it himself. Because he assumes most people are good, he may show a healthy degree of caution but more often than not is likely to give them the benefit of the doubt that they're being honest with him. He's also an impressionable and easily manipulated person thanks to the way he was raised. He's completely lacking a mental anchor not based in what other people have told him to think, to do, and to be. Multiple times throughout the series, he falters when his beliefs are challenged, proving to have no weapon against these challenges save simple denial. Schuldig, his brother Hirofumi, and a lawyer named Kinugawa all throw Omi into a state of great inner conflict as he attempts to reconcile their rational arguments against everything he's ever stood for. The last of those even succeeds in making Omi argue the complete opposite of what he's always believed.
The dangers of the above weakness are magnified when the situation includes an emotional upset. While an excellent strategist, emotions cloud Omi's judgment when he hasn't had time to sort them through, which can interfere with his ability to do what's needed and may lead to irrational behavior, such as his turning a gun on his teammates and helping the target escape. In addition, it can overload him and trigger hysteria, shock, or any number of reactions most would consider over the top because his PTSD was never treated. Under that ruthless assassin is a broken psyche prone to breakdowns.
Finally, true to the Japanese cultural norm, Omi tends to overexert himself, more concerned with his endless responsibilities than his personal health, which leads to waking up with the imprint of a keybord on his cheek.
Emotional: Omi has a strong tendency to avoid opening up to others, including his teammates. He claims nothing is wrong-- he's fine-- even as he sits there suffering kidnapping flashbacks that are causing him to have a nervous breakdown right in front of them. His abandonment trauma and subsequent isolation in Weiß may well be considered responsible for this aversion to intimacy. Similarly, Omi does not seek out help from others even when he should, having grown up self-reliant by necessity. He's prone to bouts of surly moodiness and stewing in his own juices, especially when alone, though he usually does his best to not show that side of himself. He also doesn't handle unexpected situations very well. His reactions can range from shock to panic to a total fumble of the ball. Although he's normally a smooth talker and able to lie with ease, if put on the spot he tends to freeze up and come off as very nervous.
Between his young age of starting Weiß and his amnesia of everything prior, Omi has no understanding of what it means to have a truly normal lifestyle, and consequently has trouble actually trying to live it. In fact, he becomes frustrated when he doesn't have Weiß as a justification to hunt those who hurt the people around him. He's going to become similarly torn and frustrated in Luceti for this reason. The set-up is just the sort of thing Omi canonically saw on a regular basis, and he will see the perpetrators as exactly the kind of people he's dedicated his life to getting rid of, but he lacks that OK from a higher-up to officially try to destroy them. Not that he would be able to anyway, but one could bet money on his sense of justice being infuriated off the charts, and he'll have to make a decision on whether to try to do something about it regardless of lacking an order. (this is part of why this game appealed to me as a place to play him.)
Samples
First Person:
...Am I dead?
It's strange: hell shouldn't look anything like this. But... I don't know what other explanation there could be for this place. It isn't Tokyo... and it doesn't seem like I'm anywhere near the ocean. I'm not in my room, either; Aya-kun and the others couldn't have found me... Where am I, then?
And why are my clothes here, but not on me...?
Eh?! Are those-- it can't be. I have wings...?
I must be dreaming. Or hallucinating. None of this is right, it can't be! I shouldn't be here. Did I hit my head when the building fell? I should have drowned then.
I don't see anyone else here. I wonder if my friends are here too, and we got separated. I should look for them. Or at least try to find out what happened. If I'm not dead, then I have work to do. I should find my weapons, too. I don't like that they're missing...
In any case, I can't keep sitting here. There's too much to be done.
Third Person:
Omi wasn't completely sure what part of this place bothered him the most. He didn't like that his cell phone was missing. He liked even less that his weapons were all gone. It unsettled him that he didn't remember coming there and that he didn't even know where it was he had come. He shouldn't be anywhere near a forest, let alone in one. On top of all that, he was worried for his teammates: had they all made it safely to land? Had Manx and Sakura and Aya's sister? ...Had Schwarz?
His body ached. It ached just as Omi would have expected it to after getting slammed and telekinetically crushed against a giant pillar. It wasn't surprising it was worst in his back-- that was the point of impact after all. What was surprising were the wings that now grew from his back as though they had every right to be there. How had those gotten there?! Even more bizarre was to have feeling in them. They tingled like a leg on the verge of falling asleep after too long without proper circulation, a sensation more pronounced at the base where they joined to his back. He tested the feeling in one with a pinch to the top, sucking in a quick breath at the pain that shot through it. Clearly they were tender. Amazing-- disturbing, but amazing. Could he move them? A few moments of effort confirmed that as well.
The fascination was short-lived; novel as the wings were, Omi didn't like how things were looking. Something had happened: he wasn't where he should be, he had no way of contacting his teammates, and he'd been physically altered without his consent. An abduction? To where? And by whom? Omi glanced at the pile of his mission clothes folded neatly beside him on the ground. Great to have them, but Omi wasn't entirely sure how he was supposed to put most of them back on with a pair of wings on his back.
At the very least, he could put his shorts and shoes back on. Next on the agenda was to search his clothes for any concealed items that might have been missed in the confiscation process (no luck), and then to start exploring. Omi saw no sign of civilization around him, and while he would make a point to stay alert in case he wasn't alone, it would be better not to assume there were friendly faces that would provide him food, water and shelter. Securing those needs was the first priority. Then, maybe, he could start looking for some answers.